


empty chairs at empty tables (hey, is this seat taken?)

by driedupwishes



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Comfort/Angst, Shingeki no Kyojin: Kuinaki Sentaku | Attack on Titan: No Regrets, post ACWNR
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-03
Updated: 2015-03-03
Packaged: 2018-03-16 03:25:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3472661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/driedupwishes/pseuds/driedupwishes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Levi figured he’d be left alone when they got back. They’d decide what to do with him eventually, but in the meantime he expected to be shunned and avoided like the underground scum they thought he was.</p><p>He forgot to account for a certain glasses wearing shit-for-brains who had a habit of barging in at inopportune times.</p>
            </blockquote>





	empty chairs at empty tables (hey, is this seat taken?)

Levi figured he’d be left alone when they got back. They’d decide what to do with him eventually, but in the meantime he expected to be shunned and avoided like the underground scum they thought he was.

He forgot to account for a certain glasses wearing shit-for-brains who had a habit of barging in at inopportune times.

“What’re you doing hiding out here for,” the loud mouth asked, coming out from around the corner and dropping down next to him without so much as a how-do-you-do. Levi gritted his teeth and closed his eyes.

“I’m not hiding,” he replied evenly, because he wasn’t. He was just sitting outside. In the back corner of the headquarters. In the dark.

Alone.

Hanji hummed the exact same way Farlan would have had he been there. Levi hated how familiar the sound way, gritting his teeth even harder, feeling his shoulder hunch defensively in a way he couldn’t control. The boiling thing that was his temper these days spiked, acidic in the back of his throat, and he put his head down, hands curling into fists as he breathed.

His unwanted companion was silent for a long time, so long Levi almost forgot they were there. Somewhere along the line they had slouched down, head tipped back to look at the stars that twinkled overhead, glasses more than halfway down their nose. They smiled when they noticed him looking, small enough that the movement was barely a quirk in the corner of their mouth.

“Don’t worry,” they said, still smiling that small little smile. “Erwin won’t let them send you back underground unless you give them no other choice.”

Levi grunted. “What an inspiring man,” he drawled sarcastically. Or at least he tried too, but his voice was hoarse and rough, making him scowl sharply and clear his throat quickly. The shithead in the glasses didn’t laugh, but there was a sparkle in their eye that suggested they wanted to.

“His heart is almost as big as his eyebrows,” they promised solemnly. It was something that would have made Isabel squeak in surprise, might have even drawn a small snort out of Farlan. Levi found his shoulders slumping as the boil of red rage grief melted into an exhausted kind of melancholy. He wanted to close his eyes and just-

Just stop caring.

“Come on,” Hanji said, standing up abruptly. Levi opened his eyes, glaring as hard as he could in an effort to get them to leave him alone. He didn’t need their pity.

But there wasn’t any pity in their eyes. Instead there was a quiet kind of understanding that was almost worst, that made Levi want to wrap his hands around their throat and scream.

“It’s a little late for lunch,” Hanji said, shifting their weight, one hip jutting out slightly. “But if we hurry, we can still make dinner in the tavern nearby.”

Isabel had never said so, but he knew she had been looking forward to lunch with Hanji. Farlan had been a little harder to read, but Levi knew that as long as Isabel and himself had been there Farlan would have been more than happy to freeload food off the weirdo. He opened his mouth to tell them where they could shove their fucking offer, but that wasn’t what came out.

“If your taste is as fucked up as your brain,” his mouth said, shaping the words slowly, “then I’m going to be shitting all night. But why not?”

Hanji threw their head back and laughed, eyes crinkling at the corner as their glasses slipped even further down their nose. Levi stood, dusting off his pants with his hands, and he was grateful that the loud mouth didn’t try to grab his arm to drag him along. He followed them back toward the town, listening to their chatter half-heartedly as he crossed his arms across his chest.

It was still like an open wound, to have no one on either side of him as he walked, but he had to admit it was nice to not be alone.

**Author's Note:**

> i hope you enjoyed it!


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